Orbital Depot Location Optimization for Satellite Constellation Servicing with Low-Thrust Transfers
Author(s)
Choi, Euihyeon
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Abstract
This paper addresses the critical problem of co-optimizing the optimal locations for orbital depots and the sequence of in-space servicing for a satellite constellation. While most traditional studies used network optimization for this problem, assuming a fixed set of discretized nodes in the network (i.e., a limited number of depot location candidates), this work is unique in that it develops a method to optimize the depot location in continuous space. The problem is formulated as mixed-integer nonlinear programming, and we propose a solution methodology that iteratively solves two decoupled problems: one using mixed-integer linear programming and the other using nonlinear programming with an analytic transfer solution. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we apply this methodology to a case study involving a GPS satellite constellation. Numerical experiments confirm the stability of our proposed solutions.
Sponsor
This work was conducted with support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), as part of the Space University Research Initiative (SURI), under award number FA9550-23-1-0723.
Date
2025
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Text
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